Retirement home nurse refuses CPR to dying woman

[Nasty Jack]

It is beyond belief that a qualified nurse would refuse to give CPR to a resident of her retirement facility, allowing her to just lie on the floor in front of her gasping for breath. The reason she gave was that the retirement home does not allow staff to administer help in an emergency, only call 911, which the nurse did. The 911 operator begged her to get help from anyone, just grab someone from off the street or the gardner she suggested. The nurse continued to refuse. The woman got worse and the 911 operator pleaded with the nurse for seven minutes to do something for the 87-year-old resident to no avail.

Lorraine Bayless died at the Glenwood Gardens retirement home in Bakersfield, Calif. on February 26. California has a "Good Samaritan" law which the 911 operator told the nurse and explained liability for the nurse's actions were on the emergency medical system. Continued refusal while the nurse watched the resident die. A California official said, "How a nurse can do that is beyond comprehension." Greg Crist, a senior vice president at the American Health Care Association also commented, "Staff members are 'required to perform and provide CPR' unless there's a do-not-resuscitate order," which there wasn't in Bayless' case.

Jeffrey Toomer, Exec. Dir. of Glenwood Gardens, said the nurse followed the facility's policy. And what is even more unbelievable, the daughter of Lorraine Bayless, herself a nurse, agreed with the nurse who let her mother die. This is about as cold-hearted as it gets and you have to wonder about the mentality of that kind of thinking. Also, if I were the other residents of this home, I would be working on arrangements to get out at the earliest date. If there isn't a complete investigation of this incident, there is no justice.

Read more here: [link:http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=173490784|

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[Little Star]

1. Well that should remind anyone who has a loved one in any elderly facility...

to check if they allow staff to administer help in an emergency or just use the telephone to phone for help.

That poor woman. One can't just assume what these kind of places have in their protocol procedures. They are for profit businesses just like all others. Money comes first, your loved one comes second. My mother loves where she is at but I've had to fight the administration on a few occasions. The nurses & staff are great but the administration always looks to protect the business before the patient, imho. I guess that's their job and they need/want to keep it. It's up to us to keep a watchful eye on our own loved ones.

[sinkingfeeling]

2. The family now says there was a 'Do not Resuscitate' order. I sure hope somebody

honors mine!

P.S. We have DNRs posted in my 93 yr-old mother's room and on the door to it. I think having a DNR is a wonderful thing.

[bobclark86]

3. CPR saves about 2 or 3 percent of all victims...

another 2 or 3 percent suffer broken bones, brain damage or other nasty injuries — most end up crippled. The rest die.

It's horribly inefficient, and if there's a DNR, they'd get their asses sued off for ignoring it. Oh, Good Samaritan laws don't normally apply to medical professionals in the course of their duties.

The family approved, the DNR approved (probably by the patient... that's how it usually goes), the administrator approved. Call me mean, nasty names, but it sounds like the only one with a problem is you.